BUCKS COLLEGE SEES LONG NEGOTIATIONS FOR TEACHER CONTRACT

HAL MARCOVITZ, The Morning CallTHE MORNING CALL

A long summer of heated negotiations appears in the offing for teachers and trustees at Bucks County Community College where a contract proposal by the educators union recently was rejected by board members.

It is the first time since the teachers strike of 1977 that the two sides have been so far apart in contract negotiations, according to William Heaslip, president of the Bucks County Community College Federation of Teachers.

"The monetary package is the most crucial issue involved," said Heaslip.

Last week, the college's liaison committee - which represents the 15- member board of trustees in the negotiations - rejected a proposal by the union that called for a three-year pact guaranteeing raises of 6 percent for each year of the contract.

Curt Yeske, a spokesman for the college, issued a statement saying only, "The union's proposal is unacceptable."

However, county Commissioner Carl F. Fonash said the contract proposal was rejected because the courthouse administration considered it too high in light of what other county employees have received in 1986.

Most other public employees' contracts reached in Bucks County this year have guaranteed workers raises of 3 percent, Fonash said.

"Certainly, the county is going in one direction. As far as I'm concerned 6 percent is out of the question," said the commissioner.

The union represents 183 teachers, librarians and counselors at the Newtown Township campus. The current three-year pact expires Aug. 15.

The average salary for a teacher at the community college is about $30,000 a year. The college receives a third of its funding from the county, a third from the state and a third from tuition.

Statistics gathered by the college indicate that if the board of trustees approved the union's proposal, it would cost an additional $4.5 million to finance teachers' salaries over the three-year term of the pact.

The community college has enjoyed nine years of labor peace since 1977 when teachers walked off their jobs for 28 days. Since then, Heaslip said, the teachers have been willing to accept contract extensions while the monetary terms were worked out, without going into full-fledged negotiations.

In past years, Heaslip said, the union accepted extensions of the benefits and work-rules provisions of the agreements while union and college officials fashioned salary structures.

This year, Heaslip said, the college refused to grant a contract extension. Therefore, Heaslip said, he now has to go back to the membership, find out what issues it wants brought to the table, and then use those issues as bargaining chips.

"Once we get into formal negotiations there will be new issues that come on the table," he said.

Heaslip said he doesn't know what those issues will include since he has yet to poll the membership. Regardless of what new issues are placed on the table, Heaslip said the salary package still will be the key factor in the talks.

The union president said the leadership came up with the 6-percent proposal after it surveyed what teachers at other community colleges have won in the past year. What the Bucks County union found, he said, was that teachers at other community colleges in Pennsylvania have won average salary hikes of 6.7 percent since last year.

Heaslip said it is unfair for the courthouse administration to compare the community college employees with other county workers. Most of the union members are either full professors or assistant professors, Heaslip said, which hardly compares to the memberships of the clerical and blue-collar unions which make up most of the courthouse workforce.

"We're talking about separate professions," said Heaslip.

The union president conceded that, "I could sit in the county commissioners' chairs and say, 'We are funding them so they are part of us.' "